Pallet Wine Rack

This is a simple wine rack made from the end section of a pallet. This can be made in around an hour and a half depending on what tools you use. You can make it with hand tools and a drill but is a lot easier with power tools. It's simple, easy and cheap to make, and women love them.

Use a circular saw or hand saw and cut in the indention of the pallet where fork lift forks go. The height of the wine rack will be roughly 16-17 inches tall depending on where you cut it.

You'll need two boards for the bottom of the wine rack, you can use the center of the pallet to get these boards. Using a hammer and a pry bar or whatever you have to get in between the boards, hammer it in and pry them off. This may take some practice and be frustrating because the ends have a tendency to crack and break, but eventually you'll get the hang of it or get quality wood that wont crack.

You'll need 3 smaller pieces to separate the board that holds the glasses and supports the bottom. You can get these by cutting up the bigger section of pallet that the boards are nailed in to. The pieces need to be the length of the board and 1x1 or a little bigger if you'd like. You can use a hand saw to cut them up or whatever you have. I used a circular saw to cut them off the pallet then used a band saw to cut them to dimension.

Pallets are usually rough so I sand them down to make them look better and prevent getting splinters. Depending on how rough it is, I just used 120 grit and then 220 grit to finish.

On one board you need to make holes for the wine glasses. Most pallets are going to be around 40 inches wide and i used around the standard size wine glass but you can make the sizes fit your needs. For mine, I mark 4.5 inches in from the edge and then mark 3 more holes of that one 4 inches from the next. The depth I make them is 1.5-1.75 inches into the board. Then I do the same to the other side.

I use a 1-3/8 inch forstner bit on my drill press but you can use a hand drill if you don't have one, and drill out your marked holes.

I just use a piece of wood around and inch wide, center it on the hole and mark where I need to make the cuts. Using whatever saw you have, cut the pieces out and sand the rough edges.

I put the boards together and line them up with the bottom of the rack to make sure everything goes together well. I clamp them to my table and pre drill the holes and counter sink them. I use 3 inch screws to put it all together but you can use smaller screws and put it together in sections if you'd like. Make sure you pre drill all your holes either way so it doesn't split the wood.

The wine rack is done, now all you have to do it hang it. I use 2, 2.5 inch screws and put them in studs because all the weight from the wine bottles. Depending on where you're hanging it and the studs location, I put them in one stud, skip one and put them in the other so there's 32 inches between screws. Make sure you use a level before putting in the second screw.